Quarter turn connector



O Umted States Patent 1 13,548,705

[72] Inventor Roland G. Nasser 2,938,745 5/1960 Neptune 24/221 Newburgh, N.Y. 2,382,943 8/1945 Murphy.... 24/221 [21] App]. No. 759,427 3,074,151 1/1963 Seeder 24/221 [22} Filed Sept. 12,1968 FOREIGN PATENTS 1 Patented Dec-12,1979 175,991 2/1953 Austria 248/216 [73] Asslgnee Star Expanslon Industries Corporatlon 223,361 9/1962 Austria 85,83 MoumamYiue 86,778 5/1896 Germany.. 85/84 8 m Delaware 1,228,044 11/1966 Germany 85/83 [54] QUARTER T CONNECTOR Primary Examiner-Marion Parsons, Jr.

URN Anome Friedman & Goodman 4Clalrns,5 Drawing Figs. y

[52] US. Cl. 85/84; 24/22]: 248/2205 1 Int. Cl- .1 A mounting for a connector of the type which is of sure! 84, projected through a shaped eyelet opening or the and then 292/202, 1 243/216, 239, turned out of phase therewith to achieve a connecting rela- 22O-5 tionship, wherein two mounting elements or parts cooperate with the connector to hold it firmly in an extending position [56] References Cited from a support so as to be advantageously presented for use UNITED STATES PATENTS while afi'ording the necessary degree of rotative movement to 2,936,015 5/1960 Rapata 85/80 the connector.

PATENTEDDEBZZISYB ale-348L705 E ZOb FIG.II.

FIG. 3. F19 5 INVENTOR.

ROLAN D G. NASS ER ATTORNEYS opening of the support,

wherein:

The present invention relates generally to improvementsfor a connector of the type which, in practice, is projected through a shaped eyelet opening or the like and then turned out of phase therewith to achieve its connecting result, and more particularly, to an improved mounting-for this type of connector which significantly facilitates the mounting thereof on a suitable support and in any desired location.

Fasteners or connectors of the above; description are well known and in wide use, particularly forsupporting canvas or tarpaulin. As generally understood, the canvas is provided along its periphery with numerous eyelets bounding shaped openings which, after accommodating the connector, results in the canvas being held in a supported position thereon by virtue of the connector then being turned out of phase with the shape of the eyelet opening so that removal of the canvas is prevented. This type of male and female connecting structure, namely a connector and eyelet opening in cooperating shapes, has the obvious commercialadvantage of providing readily achieved connecting and disconnecting operation and is therefore widely used in refrigerated food carrying vehicles. in this-specific end use; the practice is to form the refrigeration conduits with the canvases, and,in order to comply with the stringent health requirements of food carrying, it is also usually necessary to frequently clean the canvases. Thus, it is equallyimportant to be able to readily remove the canvases for cleaning as it is to make sure that during use, the canvases are firmly supportedin their desired operative arrangements.

Present techniques formounting the connectors on food carrying vehicles as well as in other areas of use leave much to be desiredin that the mounting usually consists of no more than means for firmlyattaching the connector to the support wall and some bearing means to permit rotative movement of the connector. These connector mountings are not necessarily concerned with achieving the mounting 'with fewer and simpler parts and in a simple assembling operation, nor with facilitating the location of the connectors;

Broadly, it is an object of the presentinvention to provide a connector of the type as hereinbefore described and an improved mounting means-thereforovercoming the foregoing and other shortcomings of the prior art.- Specifically, it is an object to provide an improved connector mounting employing but two mounting parts cooperative with the connector in forming an easily-assembled mounting which has the requisite strength to hold the connector firmly initse rtended position from the support and which also allows the necessary rotative degree of movement to the connectoL- A connector mounting demonstrating objects and advantages of the present invention includes a holding member having a radially expandable shank positionable in a mounting holding member, and an interconnecting member, which may be a driving nail, which is driven home through the connector and holding member, and more particularly, engages with the holding memberat its distal end such that-the connector is held in a laterally extending position from the holding member while its proximal end is sized such that the connector is free a connector" of the type herein described which, in the assembly operation, is aligned with the to partake of rotative movement about the longitudinal axis of the interconnecting member, although with a selected degree of friction so that the connector retains its movement.

The above brief description, as well further objects, fearotated position of tures and advantages of the present invention, would be more fully appreciated by reference to the following detailed description of a presently. preferred, but nonetheless illustrative embodiment, in accordance with the present invention, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings,

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view, ,partlyin section, illustrating the various parts comprising the connector mounting of the present invention in a partially assembled condition;

sequence, prevent removal of the FIG. 2 is similarly aside elevational'view, in section-taken on line 2-2 of FIG. 4, showing the connector mounting parts in their assembled condition; 1

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view, partly in. section, illustrating the male connector or fastener in a rotated position from its position depicted in FIG. 2; 1.

FIG. 4 is a partial plan view projected from FIG. 2 and including an eyeleted canvas illustrated in phantom perspective; and FIG. 5 is a plan view projected fromFlG 3 illustrating further structural details of the connector mounting.-

Reference is now made to the drawingswherein thereis shown a male connector and means for mounting the same, generally. designated 10, demonstrating objects and advantages of thepresent invention. In the arrangement 10, the connector per se is identified by the reference numeral 12 and the other illustrated parts, soon to be described, are cooperating means which efficiently function to mount the connector 12 on a support S in a clearance position therefrom, as exemplified by the illustrated horizontally oriented positionwhich readily permits supporting a canvas or tarpaulin C on the connector. To this end, the canvas C has appropriate female connecting structure such as that exemplifiedin FIG. 4 by the eyelet l4 bounding the opening'l4a through" which the connector 12 is adapted to be projected. As generally understood, after the projecting of the connector l'2through the eyelet opening 14a, the connector is given a quarter'tum such that the shoulders 12a, formed by the enlarged size of the connector head 12b relative to its remaining cylindrical body. 120, ex-

tend on either side beyond, the eyelet 14 and, as 'a com position on the connector body 120.. On the other hand, by merely rotating the connector head l2b'another 90 so that it is aligned with the long dimension of the eyelet opening 14a, canvas C is of course readily removable from the connector. As just described, the so-called quarter turn connector l2is well known both in construction and mode of operation, being particularly useful in refrigerated food carrying vehicles where the practice is to form the refrigeration conduits with canvases C and, in which in order to comply with'th'e' health requirements of food carrying, it is necessary to clean these canvases frequently which is of course facilitated by being able to readily remove the canvases from the vehicle preparatory to the cleaning thereof.

Constituting the present invention is the, combination with the connector 12 of the parts now to be described which readily and efficiently permit the mounting of one or more connectors 12 on the support,.where desired, and in the desired mounted condition both extending therefrom and freely rotatable. These parts, in order of assembly' which provides the arrangement 10, includesa holding member 16, preferably fabricated of plastic, which initially is disposed in a loose fit within a predrilled through bore 18 in the support S. Holding member 16 includes a radially expandable split cylindrical shank 16a, and a largerv diameter arcuate head 16b having a the holding member 16 can be readily used as an efficient mounting for the connector 12 in accordance with the present invention. 1

Cooperating with the holding member 16 to form'a mounting for the connector 204, a medial body as illustrated, or provided with surface knurling which, as

canvas C from its supported opening in the support S. Holding 12 is an interconnecting member 20 which may be an ordinary'driving nail having a piercing point section 201: which'may be either threaded,

generally understood, effectively serves asan engaging surface forcompleting the engagement of the member 20 with the holding member 16, and having finally an enlarged diameter head 20c. As may be best understood by a comparison of FIGS. 1 and 2, the arrangement is achieved by aligning the axial opening 12b of the connector 12 with the partially completed axial opening 160 of the holding member 16 and then driving the interconnecting member 20 home through these aligned axial openings. The result is that the piercing point 200 of the member 20 is driven. through the bottom wall bounding the opening 16c and into the split 16b and is effectivr, as clearly illustrated in FIGS. 2, 3, of forcing apart the two halves of the shank 160 such that the gripping projections 16e firmly engage the support wall 18. The engaging or gripping surfaces on the body 20b in turn engage with the surfaces of the holding member 16 which bound the now completed axial opening of the member 16, consisting of the combination of the previously noted opening 16c and the split 16b. As a result, the enlarged nail head20c, which seats in a counterbore provided in the end of the axial opening 12b of the connector 20, is effective in holding the connector 20 in an extended position from the support S with the arcuate end portion of the connector 12 being in substantially conformal abutting engagement with the arcuate head 16b. Further, since the driving nail 20 is selected with a body diameter approximating that of the axial opening 12d, the member 12 is readily manipulated through rotative movement in order to achieve its engaging and disengaging positions relative to the canvas eyelet 14 or other similar cooperating connecting structure, but this occurs against a slight degree of friction which has been found effective to hold the member 12 in its rotated position of movement.

Although not shown, from the foregoing description it should be readily appreciated that the support S need not be limited to a wall or the like but could include a washer or other no'nstationary member which is gripped by the expanding holding member 16 and, in this broad sense, provides support for the connector 12. Such an arrangement would be used to unite a connector 12 hereof to a canvas or other fabric-type material, this said material having an opening to accommodate the shank of the holding member 16 therethrough and having the portion thereof bounding this opening gripped between the washer and the large diameter head 16b of member 16.

A latitude of modification, change and substitution is intended in the foregoing disclosure and in some instances some features of the invention will be employed without a cor responding use of other features. Accordingly, it is appropriate that the appended claims be construed broadly and in a manner consistent with the spirit and scope of the invention herein.

Iclaim:

1. A mounting for a rotatable male connector comprising, in combination, a support having a mounting opening, a holding member including a radially expandable shank provided with a first sized axial opening having an operative position on said support with said shank projected through said mounting opening, a male connector provided with a second sized axial bore, and an interconnecting member of a prescribed diameter having an inserted operative position through the aligned axial openings of said holding member and said male connector, said interconnecting member prescribed diameter being of an extent relative to said first and second sized axial openings to respectively cause expansion of said holding member shank so as to firmly seat said holding member in said mounting opening and wherein said holding member includes an arcuate head portion and said male connector has an arcuate end portion disposed in substantially conformal abutting engagement with said arcuate head portion to allow turning movement of said male connector about said interconnecting member, whereby said male connector is rotatably disposed on said support.

2. A mounting for a rotatable male connector as defined in claim 1 wherein said holding member expandable shank has laterally extending concentrically arranged plural projections thereon adapted upon radially expansion of said shank to engage said support.-

3. A mounting for a rotatable male connector as defined in claim 2 wherein said interconnecting member has an external engaging surface therealong effective to engage the surface of said mounting member bounding the axial opening thereof.

4. A mounting for a rotatable male connector as defined in claim 3 wherein said interconnecting member includes a front piercing section effective to complete said axial opening of said mounting member during the positioning of said interconnecting member in its said inserted position through said mounting member. 

